Quoted from an SI.com article: The Ali-Frazier I fight was televised closed-circuit to 300 million people worldwide. That would be equal to 100 million PPV buys (a PPV buy represents 3 viewers per buy). Neither boxing or the UFC will ever see those kinds of numbers again.
That fight was on a major network though, wasn't it? I don't know whether or not they had to pay for the fight is what I mean, because if you are going to include FREE fights...UFC 75 had 5+million viewers, when Lewis-Tyson had like 2 million PPV buys right?
To see Ali-Frazier you had to buy an individual ticket at a movie theater or an arena which was linked to the broadcast transmission. Thousands of theatres in the U.S. didn't show movies that night to broadcast the fight.....which was held on a weekday night .
My dad used to tell me they would have Ali fights at the pro hockey civic arena in pittsburgh, thats what they had to do to see big fights like that before ppv was around.
My mistake - didn't understand how you would watch boxing over closed-circuit TV Those are IMPRESSIVE numbers for Ali/Foreman and Ali/Frazier I though
Think about it.....300 million people buying tickets in advance and then going out on a weekday night to movie theatres and arenas all over the world to watch a boxing match. The thought is staggering compared to the current scene. It makes DeLaHoya-Mayweather look like the minor leagues. The UFC cannot comprehend such numbers.
